When you come to Medan, you may want to go shopping for some local food or clothing in Medan. We are listing several popular shopping spots here:

Sun Plaza Medan

This is the most popular shopping plaza in Medan currently with many choices of tenants from local, national and international chains.

Tenants range from Sogo Department Store, Ace Hardware, Index Furnishings, Hyper Mart, Star Bucks, JCO Donuts, Bread Talk, Bread Life, Baskin Robbins Ice Cream, KFC, Acer Computers, Toshiba Computers, Frank & Co jewelry, Studio 21 Cinemas, Optics, Seoul Garden, Timezone, Paparons Pizza , GameSpot for gamers, Planet Sports, Kids Station for toys Sports Warehouse, BodyShop, Osim Health, Next Clothing, Pizza Hut, Nelayan Restaurant, Fountain Ice Cream among others.

Medan Fair Plaza

This has more local shops without cinema but has a wide range of IT and mobile phone shops including many choices of restaurants and cafes and a Carrefour and Matahari Department Store.

Grand Palladium Mall

This mall consist of smaller shops and boutiques including many IT and mobile phones related shops plus Matahari Department Store, TimeZone games for children, HyperMart and Cinema. Not to forget, there is also a 5 star hotel above - The Aryaduta Hotel Medan.

Thamrin Plaza

Thamrin Plaza is an older plaza in Medan, situated a little further than the city center. The majority of the space has been taken up by Matahari Department Store, Food Court, Cinema, Kids Station, Next Clothing, BodyShop, Pizza Hut, Nelayan Restaurant and other smaller local shops.

Medan Mall

Situated in the heart of the city with the wholesale center behind this mall, it is one of the busiest mall for businesses and visitors from suburbs of Medan. With many gold jewelers on the first floor, Macan Yaohan Supermarket on second, Matahari Department Store on third and fourth plus, KFC, Gramedia Book Store, Body Shop, Giordano Clothing, Polo, Batik Shop among other local shops.

The main attraction should be the wholesale kiosk right behind the mall which is connected to the mall.

Medan Plaza

Situated opposite of Medan Fair Plaza, this is one of the oldest plaza in Medan with many local shops selling mostly local fashion products

Plaza Millenium

Also an old plaza in Medan, a little way out of city center, popular for its handphone center, which should be the largest in Medan for retail and wholesale since almost 85% of the retail space is filled with kiosks selling mobile phones.

Deli Grand City

This will be the latest plaza to be build in Medan, taking up the space of the previous three-plaza-in-one shopping complex known as the Deli Plaza, Sinar Plaza and Menara Plaza. These plazas were the most popular shopping destination in Medan before the new Sun Plaza was built.

The Deli Grand City will house condominiums, hotels, convention and a mega mall which is currently under construction. It is still currently open with phase one under renovation.

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There has been many requests for a package tour for Medan Lake Toba & Brastagi

Yes it can be difficult and costly to get to Lake Toba as it is more than 4 hours drive from the city of Medan. Language barrier and safety concerns have also added to this.

If you are the adventurous type, you may want to try to arrange it yourself, but with many hotels without email address or website, it can be difficult to get hold of a room. Renting a private car is costly, public buses are only recommended for the experience back packers.

So we arranged a package tour for our visitors to Medan with reputable hotels and an English speaking guide to ensure your trip is safe and enjoyable. Personally, we did have a bad experience with a package tour to Lake Toba and hence we want to ensure this does not happen to any new visitors to Lake Toba.

As you may have read in our post on Lake Toba, it is the Largest Volcanic Lake in the world. One of the things Medan is proud to call home. Many travelers come to Medan especially to see one of the wonders of the world. So if you have a chance to come to Medan, why not take a day or two to visit Lake Toba.

See the itinerary of the package tour we arrange for you from the link at the top menu under “TOUR” or clik on the link below:

>> Lake Toba Tour <<

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Here are the Latest updates on the Development of the restaurants @ the JW Marriott Hotel Medan..

Take a walk-through the elegantly designed Jade Restaurant, the ultra cool Prime Steakhouse + Bar as well as the much loving Marriott Cafe + Marriott Gourmet that is currently under construction.

This is as close as you can get to see the New soon to be opened JW Marriott Hotel in Medan! Enjoy.

Jade Restaurant

Prime Steakhouse + Bar

Marriott Cafe

Clip courtesy of award winning Poole Associates

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If you were unfortunate enough to have to spend a night at a hospital in Medan, then this may be what you need to know.

There are many hospitals in Medan but for the sake of cleanliness, you may just want to opt for Gleni International Hospital at Jl. Listrik in Medan.

This hospital used to be part of the Gleaneagles group of Healthcare of the Singapore company but it had been changed to the current Gleni Hospital since last year. So hopefully the ISO standards will still remain in the hospital.

The system works like this, should you be required to be admitted, you can request for a particular doctor only if he or she practice at the hospital. You will then need to choose the room type, and most important factor to note is that:

ALL costs i.e doctor fees, laboratory fees, medical fees will depend on the room type you choose. Hence, if you choose to stay in a one bedded room, then all your medical charges will be higher than if you chose to the four-bedded room.

Likewise, if you choose to stay in the VIP room or suites, all these costs are much higher compared to if you choose the normal single room. Yes, this hospital have VIP suites, Executive suites as well as Presidential suites for patients. Just to make patients feel more comfortable as if they are staying in a hotel.

( the VIP room, not exactly 5 star, but you get an extra bed for your care giver and carpet floor so it feels more like a hotel and not a hospital room, this is a real picture taken, not from brochure )

However, these rooms are priced higher than the 5 star hotels in Medan.

Cost of room:

• VIP - Rp 1,100,000 ( an extra bed for your sleep over companion)
• Single superior - Rp 825,000 (same as VIP except without carpet and extra bed for your companion)
• Single - Rp 550,000

As a comparison, you can book a room at the Aryaduta 5 Star Hotel in Medan for only USD83 which is less than Rp800.000.

As for normal medical care, doctors are based in the hospital only certain time of the day, so you will need to call in to the Clinic department and ask for the timing. However, please note that the Clinic is closed from Saturday afternoon and on Sunday.. so, yes.. you will not be able to get hold of specialist doctors during the weekends.

( this is the entrance to the 24 hour clinic, you can also access to the emergency area from here or from the rear entrance - the emergency unit UGD is at the rear of the building )

Should you need to see the specialists during the weekends, you will be best to walk straight into the emergency area, and if you feel you need to be admitted, the emergency department will then contact your choice of doctor who hopefully may just be kind enough to come in and check on you instantly.

Most of the time, they would just instruct the nurses over the phone on what medication to give and they will normally just come in the next day to check on you. Therefore, if you are in critical condition and am still able to travel, it is best to just take a quick flight out to Penang, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore for the treatment.

We were also told that the laboratory charges are higher after 10 pm, which I dont think patients have any choices if they have to be admitted at night.

Doctor recommendation based on personal experience:

• General: Dr Hartono Taslim (geriatrics), Dr Cut Tigor
• Paediatrician: Prof Sharil Pasaribu, Dr Chairul Yoel, Dr Johannes

Phone Numbers to remember:

• Medical Hotline : +6261 4562626
• Information Centre: +6261 4566368 ext. 100

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• First Aid Manual
• Health Insurance
• Alternative Medicines
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The Pride of Medan Indonesia

Lake Toba also known as Danau Toba in Indonesia is the largest volcanic lake ( crater lake ) in the world.

At 100 km long and 30 km wide, measuring 505 m at its deepest point, it is situated in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Surrounded by tall mountains, it cradles the large island of Samosir in its middle.

Uniqueness of Lake Toba:

Unlike any other lake, if you think about the location — close to the equator — and look at the picture, you will realize that there is something strange about the lake. Most large lakes were formed by glaciers; large lakes close to the equator are sometimes formed by the damming of a large river. But there is no large river flowing into Lake Toba. The lake has a different and more dramatic origin.

Lake Toba marks the site of the largest volcanic eruption in the last 2 million years. It is, like Yellowstone, a “resurgent caldera”, or as geologists David Alt and Daniel Hyndman call this type of volcano, a “perfect horror”. Alt and Hyndman call resurgent calderas “perfect horrors” because they are both violent and enormous.

The size of Lake Toba may be a little difficult to grasp from the picture, so to give you some comparisons.

In Washington state, if the lake were aligned north to south in the Puget Sound area, it would stretch from Everett to Tacoma. In the Chicago area, it would stretch from Waukegan to Gary. In New York, it would stretch from West Point to the Statue of Liberty. This is one enormous volcano.

And its most recent eruption, about 75,000 years ago, was in Volcanic Explosivity Index of 8

The Young Toba Tuff has an estimated volume of 2,800 cubic kilometers (km) and was erupted about 74,000 years ago. The Huckleberry Ridge Tuff, erupted at Yellowstone 2.2 million years ago, has a volume of 2,500 cubic km. The Lava Creek Tuff, erupted at Yellowstone 600,000 years ago, has a volume of 1,000 cubic km. The May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens produced 1 cubic km of ash. Not shown in the diagram, is the Fish Canyon Tuff of the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. The Fish Canyon Tuff was erupted 27.8 million years ago and has an estimated volume of 3,000 cubic km.

The volume of the youngest eruption is estimated at 2,800 cubic km, making the eruption the largest in the Quaternary. Pyroclastic flows covered an area of at least 20,000 square km. Up to 1200 feet (400 m) of Young Toba Tuff is exposed in the walls of the caldera. On Samosir Island the tuff is more than 1800 feet (600 m) thick. Ash fall from the eruption covers an area of at least 4 million square km (about half the size on the continental United States).

That eruption would not have been pleasant for our ancestors. In fact, some scientists believe that the eruption, and the volcanic winter that followed, almost wiped out homo sapiens, cutting our population down to as few as 3,000, or even as few as 1,000. (That population bottleneck, as geneticists call it, would explain why humans vary less genetically that one would expect from the age of our species.)

How to Get to Lake Toba:

Since it is located in North Sumatra, the only way there is through the city of Medan - North Sumatra Indonesia

Lake Toba is about 4 hours drive by car from Medan City. You can travel by public bus which may take longer to about 6 hours. The usual stop is the town of ” Pematang Siantar ” halfway to Lake Toba for a toilet break.

Local town is known as Prapat / Parapat

Local transportation around the lake takes the form of boats. You can also hire a motorcycle for a day or two and get out and about ( Rp.50,0000 per day inclusive of 4 litres of petrol ). There are no police checking licenses and there is not much traffic - just watch out for the big trucks, buses and diabolical bridge.

See Tour Package for Lake Toba & Brastagi

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updated 16 Aug:

The Signage is up, The entertainment center is known as:

M - City “Hotel, Spa, Karaoke, Pub“

We are not sure what the name will be, but a rough guess from the BIG “M” painted on the building, we guess it will be called Majestyk since this is a well known building in Jl. Gatot Subroto which houses the Majestyk Bioskop / cinema for years.

Owned by The Selecta Group who owns the Selecta Restaurants (specialized in Wedding Functions) and Karaoke, It is going to be a one - stop entertainment spot in Medan with Karaoke, Pub, Spa and there are rumors that there will also be hotel rooms inside…

So watch this space for an update of this new entertainment spot in town.

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This is another sport Medan is proud of - WUSHU - one kind of Chinese Martial Art

WUSHU Sumut has proven itself that it is leading in this sport by winning the most medals in PON XVII/2008 the current sports games competition in Indonesia held in Dome Sports Centre Balikpapan, Kalimantan Timur Indonesia.

Our North Sumatra team headed by Master Supandi Kusuma ( also owner of Koran Medan - Harian Analisa and Medan Bisnis ) won a total of 16 medals with 9 Gold medals, 4 Silver medals and 3 Bronze Medals. This is an unexpected achievements as the team was only targeting 5 Gold Medals this year.

WUSHU Sumut will carry on its journey to win more medals in the next competition of “Wushu Junior World Championship 2008” which is going to be held in Bali Indonesia this coming December 2008.

What is more promising for Wushu SUMUT is that the goal of Master Supandi Kusuma is to bring the team international and hope to be able to participate in Olympic 2012 if the sport becomes an official games in the Olympic. With such a strong support, we are sure WUSHU SUMUT will achieve its goals and make Medan and North Sumatra proud!

It is reported that Lindswell may represent Indonesia and WUSHU SUMUT in the 2008 Beijing Olympic too!

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Here you are, the latest pictures and videos from The Latest theme park in Medan

HillPark at GreenHill City Sibolangit about 1 hour drive from the airport and 1.5 hours drive from Medan City - North Sumatra Indonesia

Want to see the Roller Coaster Experience? and the screams from HillPark… Watch the video below:

The Best Shot for the Theme Park if you want to take some photos. Smile

Ok, What you need to know before you get there.

The entrance ticket cost Rp12.000 (USD 1.50) per person whether adult or child, it costs the same.

The rides cost Rp10.000 and Rp12.000 depending on the type of rides. Not cheap for Medan standard but if you convert it into USD, it’s less than USD 1.50 per ride. The ticket for the rides valid for only I person/child. You will still need 2 tickets if your 2 children share a ride.

The indoor games costs from Rp1.500 to Rp12.000. The coins are Rp1.500 a piece, you may need to use more than 1 coin depending on the types of games or rides.

So expect to pay at least Rp200.000 per person if want to experience all the rides and food.

The Blue Ride Token Costs Rp10.000 per person

The Orange Ride Token Costs Rp12.000 per person

The Best ride should be the Ferris Wheel as you can see a nice view from above.

View of the Hillpark from Ferris Wheel, You can see the whole of HillPark!

Ok, not exactly the scale of Disney Land but a good size for Medan.

Looking up as we ride up the Ferris Wheel, no screams here… just silence

This is the “Wheel” that turns the Ferris Wheel Our life and death depends on this wheel

This is the Villas of GreenHill City adjacent to HillPark from the same developer. Many Medanese purchase a weekend home here and Brastagi (another hour from GreenHill Sibolangit) A new phase has opened up for sale at the rear of HillPark.

This is the GreenHill City Retail Area with shops, mini market, restaurants and cafe including KFC (Kentucky Friend Chicken, Garuda, Paparons Pizza, CFC (California Fried Chicken), Soup Ikan, Macan Mart mini market and other smaller retail shops, cafes and restaurants. A wider choice compared to those offered in the Theme Park.

Food & Drinks in HillPark:

There is a Taipan Express serving Dim Sum inside Hillpark at the indoor Palace. Other restaurants include Garuda Indonesian Padang Food, Paparons Pizza plus other small cafes.

This is the Palace of HillPark with carnival games and souvenier shop. A good place to hide from the rain. Yes, it rained, so remember to bring your umbrella to avoid getting caught in the rain. If not you will need to buy an Umbrella from HillPark for Rp60.000 at the shop.

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We have just created a new page on Medan City Tourist And Travel Information as we have many readers asking for the key travel information summarized in one page for easy access and viewing.

Information like important phone numbers of police stations, hospitals, maps, flights, airport and more.

This page can be found on the top menu bar under “CITY GUIDE” and will constantly be updated for more key summary.

Feel free to add to the page in the comments box at the bottom or request for information to be added. We will try to get the information for you.

Visit the page now…

Medan City Guide

The Kota Medan City Travel & Tourist Information

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These pictures are the current condition of JW Marriott recent development in Medan (photos taken 3 weeks ago)..

We were told, maybe and hopefully…. the much awaited JW Marriott will open on a special date in August but we are not allowed to disclose “the actual” date …. hence…. make a guess…?!

Here’s the sneak peek into JW Marriott…

The Grand Lobby

The Grand Ballroom.. with many high society wedding functions on the way….

The Chandeliers are HUGE! Higher than the man holding it! … look small once up on the ceiling though

the Cafe…. where we can indulge in the mouthwatering buffet…

The Jade Chinese Restaurant with very modern and impressive Platform

I bet we would all love to see the room much more though… but sadly, we were not given…. but from the photos shown above, it sure looks impressive….

We posted videos of the designs a while ago, if you missed the post, you can see them at JW Marriott Restaurants Medan

pictures courtesy of Poole Associates

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